Crate-digging. It's brought us the twitchy, unnerving, unreal creations of the likes of DJ Shadow in his seminal Entroducing (15 years old this year), as well as Johnny Greenwood finding Paul Lansky's 40-minute Mild und Liese and subsequently locating the four chord progession that became Idiotheque...
Some of the finest compilations of recent years have come from enthusiasts going the extra mile to get into the nitty gritty of a genre or region of the world during a certain period. One of my favourites was the 2005 Soul Jazz release, Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution in Sound, that covers the, er, Tropicalia period from around the late 60s: a mashup of rock, bossa nova, soul, and underground rhythms including the likes of Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze and Gal Costa. It's all joyful stuff to the ear that gets repeat listenings throughout any year. This badboy comes with a well researched insert book as well that helps you bluff your way through the period. Essential.
Tom Ze - Jimmy, Renda-se by CulturalCannibals
Soundway Records have led the way in recent years with their exceptionally researched (founder Miles Cleret likes nothing more than flying several times to Ghana for example to rummage through radio shacks old 12"s to find what he likes, then hunt down the owners of the masters by word of mouth...) compilations covering various countries and time frames, favourites being Tumbélé: Biguine, Afro and Latin Sounds from the French Caribbean, 1963-1974, Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Ghanaian Blue 1968-1981 and Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla & Afro
Abelardo Carbono - Palenque by Soundway
Note also the berrrilliant artwork afforded to this series by the rather wonderful Lewis Heriz.
This, in a typically long-winded way, leads me to how FLIPPING MUCH I'm enjoying the latest Finders Keepers record - Thai? Dai! - a selection of Thai psyche and punk funk outings that have pretty much never been released in Thailand let alone in da West. I was playing this in the office the other day, and my colleague (who speaks Thai despite ressembling Wayne Rooney a little - no offence Wayne), got all excited yelping 'but this is sung in Thai, and it's good!'. Yes. Thai music can be really shit. Thai pop for example is pretty bad. My uncle lives in Bangkok and he lets me choose between Thai pop or Engelbert Humperdink (I kid you not) in the car. I choose Engelbert every time because he is actually a proper badman.
Anyway. These awesome Thai tracks have something of the modal about them, which means you end up getting washed over in the oriental melodic lines despite their inherent punk-funkiness. There are also some entertaining spoken word parts midway through. All in all it's a delight of a record. Looking back, the Tropicalia record did seem to influence a good bunch of musicians over the following years. How will Thai? Dai! fare in comparison?
Soreng Santi - Kuen Kuen Lueng Lueng by The Drift Record Shop
Ps - I'm looking for a kitten like this. Please get in touch if you have one.
